Victory Sweet For Bolingbrook

The Raiders rode a 23-point second quarter to a 17-point halftime lead and held on to beat Crete-Monee 68-62 in the Class AA sectional final Friday at Romeoville.

Senior Trent Jackson, playing despite a weeklong bout with the flu, had the game of his life, getting 32 points, 8 rebounds 2 blocked shots and 4 steals. He also forced six Warrior turnovers.

``I just told the coach (Bob Mitchell) I`d give 100 percent as long as I could,`` said the 6-foot-1-inch guard.

The sectional title was the first for Bolingbrook (24-5), which meets Springfield Lanphier in the supersectional Tuesday at Illinois State University in Normal.

Guard Jay Lomas added 17 points for Bolingbrook, which shot 60 percent from the field. Bolingbrook sank 10 straight free throws in the final 1 minute 35 seconds to hold off the Warriors (22-7), who twice closed to four points in the final minutes.

Junior Phil Henderson paced Crete-Monee with 23 points.

At Springfield--Ed Horton scored 28 points and Wali Abdul-Rahim added 16 to lead Springfield Lanphier (26-3) to an 80-50 rout of Springfield High

(16-13).

At Waukegan East--Bryan Muellner scored 35 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to lead Carmel (24-5) to a 71-70 overtime victory over Highland Park (19-9). Muellner`s basket with 1:09 left to play earned the Corsairs their first sectional championship. Muellner also blocked Josh Wexler`s shot with one second remaining. Peter Rudman had 21 points and Wexler 20 for Highland Park. At Elgin--Sophomore Mark Baugh scored 23 points as Elgin (17-11) swept to a 58-40 victory over Hoffman Estates (19-10).

At East Moline--Mark Setchell`s 10-foot jump shot with 10 seconds to play lifted Ottawa (22-5) over Rock Falls 60-58.

At Collinsville--Cahokia (26-3) rolled to a 32-20 halftime lead en route to a 77-63 victory over Alton (19-10). Stan Silas scored 24 points for Cahokia, which was playing without head coach Ken McBride.